Women faculty members make, on average, 80.6 percent of what their male counterparts make within all ranks as reported by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The report showed salaries of full-time faculty members for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. It noted in the past year, the biggest salary increase, “went to faculty members working at doctoral institutions,” which have the greatest difference between men’s and women’s pay.

In the second Presidential debate of 2012, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was mentioned in regards to women making 72 cents on the dollar of what men make. According to The Library of Congress, this law allows women to sue their employer for up to two years of back pay. This is money they are entitled to but did not receive due to inequitable pay.

Despite the passing of the bill in 2009, employers continue to distribute unequal pay according to gender.

The National Women’s Law Center released its North Carolina State Equal Pay Fact Sheet in April 2012.

“The typical North Carolina woman who has received an associate’s degree or completes some college still isn’t paid as much as the typical North Carolina man who only graduated from high school,” it noted.

There could be many reasons for inequitable pay between men and women. Linda McAbee, vice chancellor for Human Resources at N.C. A&T, explained that certain criteria account for the differences in pay. The criteria could include faculty rank, status, discipline, and experience.

Rank refers to whether a teacher is classified as a professor, associate professor, assistant professor, lecturer, adjunct professor. Status indicates if a professor has tenure or not. Their discipline is what they teach, and experience can be how long they have taught and what and where they have previously taught.

Though certain criteria justify differences in pay, The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) said, “The overall salary disadvantage for women is a combination of two primary factors: women are more likely to have positions at institutions that pay lower salaries, and they are less likely to hold senior faculty rank.”

Though the research and data tables reflect these two differences, it also shows that women usually earn lower salaries even when they hold the same rank as men.

The AAUP Faculty Gender Equity Indicators 2006 by Martha A. West and John W. Curtis, said that “Women hold only 24 percent of full professor positions in the U.S., despite the overwhelming presence of women students on campus for the past twenty-five years. Women are obtaining doctoral degrees at record rates, but their representation in the ranks of tenured faculty remains below expectations…Women face more obstacles as faculty in higher education than they do as managers and directors in corporate America.”

Some employers may understand the importance, but with women having smaller salaries than men at the same rank, there may be disparities for students to look forward to. AAUP said “In 2005-06, across all ranks and all institutions, the average salary for women faculty was 81 percent of the amount earned by men. This comparison has remained virtually unchanged since the AAUP began collecting separate salary data for women and men faculty in the late 1970s.” All employers understand the importance of compliance, but not all are afraid of consequences.

McAbee said, “There is no evidence of inequitable pay based on gender here at A&T and currently, there is no evidence of inequitable pay based on any protected classes here at the University.” She went on to explain if there were evidence of inequitable pay and an investigation proved the validity of it, adjustments would be made.

Patrila Hardy, a junior from Greenville studying elementary education said that this makes her feel like her fight will be greater than she thought. In her mind, she will be going against teachers who she feels are not as good as she is rather than someone who just “got lucky” to have a different gender. Hardy believes that the Peter Principle, which states that you are hired to your highest level of incompetence, still exists. She said that it is like a tenured teacher going against a first year teacher, “Just because a teacher has experience (years) does not mean they are a good teacher. They could have taught for 20 years and have been a horrible teacher for 18 of those years,” Hardy said.

“The way our society is set up irritates me. We are still stuck.” Hardy said as she relates unequal pay to racism. “You’d think it would be dead at this point. It’s against the law to hire or fire someone based on race. Is it not the same case with equal pay? Is that not discrimination?” she said.

Dr. Brian Simms, A&T’s faculty senate president, recently requested a faculty compensation review, which the university has committed to complete.

• Kimberly Fields, Staff Reporter